FPC Brings China’s First Biometric Contactless Payment Card: What Does the Future Hold?

Earlier this month FPC (Fingerprint Cards), a leading consumer fingerprint sensor vendor, announced that it will be working with Chinese hardware secure element vendor CV Microelectronic in order to bring to market Greater China’s first biometric contactless payment card. For this early stage, FPC will utilize its FPC1300 series, featuring an ultra-thin sensor with contactless and energy harvesting capabilities (negating the need for an internal battery), low power consumption, 360-degree-angle readability, ISO compliance, and quick readability and enrollment, as well as equipping the matching software with a sophisticated self-learning algorithm (FPC’s EvoTouch). While this turn of events will no doubt kickstart a market domino effect in the region, the jury is still out on whether the Chinese market will adopt biometric payment smart cards as fast as anticipated by large vendors or take a back seat to mobile payments while Asia-Pacific giants like Alibaba flood the market with their own biometric solutions.